Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Everyman's Library, Dutton Adult (1978), Paperback, 560 pages
Description
This novel, which has always been regarded as one of Scott's finest, opens with the Edinburgh riots of 1736. The people of the city have been infuriated by the actions of John Porteous, Captain of the Guard, and when they hear that his death has been reprieved by the distant monarch theyignore the Queen and resolve to take their own revenge. At the cente of the story is Edinburgh's forbidding Tolbooth prison, known by all as the Heart of Midlothian.
Media reviews
New York Review of Books
The criticism that Scott cannot draw a heroine has to be modified after we have read The Heart of Midlothian. To judge by this book Scott could not draw a hero. For neither the pious, pettifogging Butler nor the wicked George Staunton can be called human beings of anything but conventional
The greatness of The Heart of Midlothian arises, first of all, in the scope that the problem of conscience gave to Scott’s imagination. He was not arguing in a void. His argument was creating real people and attracting real people to it. He made the story of Effie’s murdered baby a national story. And then how wide his range is! The scenes in theTolbooth are remarkable, and especially those that are built about the figure of Ratcliffe when the governor is working to turn him into an informer. Scott had the eighteenth-century taste for rogues, and their talk is straight from nature... Scott has looked it all up, but his own version is so alive, so effortless, so fast moving. Every detail tells; the very pedantry of it is pedantry washed down by the rough wine of life.
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interest. Effie and Jeanie Deans are quite another matter. They are peasants and Scott condescends to them with the gentlemanliness of his time, but they are alive as his peasants always are...The greatness of The Heart of Midlothian arises, first of all, in the scope that the problem of conscience gave to Scott’s imagination. He was not arguing in a void. His argument was creating real people and attracting real people to it. He made the story of Effie’s murdered baby a national story. And then how wide his range is! The scenes in theTolbooth are remarkable, and especially those that are built about the figure of Ratcliffe when the governor is working to turn him into an informer. Scott had the eighteenth-century taste for rogues, and their talk is straight from nature... Scott has looked it all up, but his own version is so alive, so effortless, so fast moving. Every detail tells; the very pedantry of it is pedantry washed down by the rough wine of life.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member thorold
All sorts of critics describe this as Scott's masterpiece: I wouldn't argue with that. By taking a working class woman as his central character, he avoids the "vacuum at the centre" we get in more conventional adventure stories. The Scottish criminal law and the city of Edinburgh put Scott on his
Of course, there is much a modern reader would quibble with: although the story gets going much faster than some of his others, we do have to put up with a certain amount of slow-moving (but vital) back-story in the early chapters, and the ending takes far longer to tie up all the threads than it might (and there's a shade too much poetic justice handed out). The Duke of Argyle and the sinister gypsy woman make rather one-dimensional good and bad fairy godmothers. Scott being Scott, the characters do occasionally forget themselves and start talking like books. We can put up with the little imperfections, though, because there is so much treasure in between. Jeanie and her old Covenanter father are simply wonderful characters; there are a couple of splendid comic lairds of the best sort; Scott guides us though the complicated legal and religious problems that drive the plot with unobtrusive expert knowledge.
Reflecting on the book with hindsight, the really clever thing Scott has done is to tell the story mostly from Jeanie's point of view, sidelining Effie and her lover, who might have been the obvious central characters in a romantic adventure story. They have a passionate love affair, rob, murder, make thrilling clandestine journeys, disguise their identities, etc. - and it all happens offstage. We see their whole romantic career though the eyes of the people who have to clear up the mess. When Jeanie embarks on her epic journey to London, Scott makes us see that what is remarkable about her is the absolute conviction that she is doing the right thing and will succeed. We may think her naive; another writer might have treated the whole affair with a bit more irony and thrown more obstacles in her way; but Scott accomplishes the difficult task of making a wholly virtuous character three dimensional and interesting enough to carry a whole book without becoming either nauseating or tedious. Not a lot of people can do that.
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favourite ground; 1735, with the cement of the Act of Union still setting and the religious struggles of the last century still in living memory, is also pretty much the ideal historical moment for him.Of course, there is much a modern reader would quibble with: although the story gets going much faster than some of his others, we do have to put up with a certain amount of slow-moving (but vital) back-story in the early chapters, and the ending takes far longer to tie up all the threads than it might (and there's a shade too much poetic justice handed out). The Duke of Argyle and the sinister gypsy woman make rather one-dimensional good and bad fairy godmothers. Scott being Scott, the characters do occasionally forget themselves and start talking like books. We can put up with the little imperfections, though, because there is so much treasure in between. Jeanie and her old Covenanter father are simply wonderful characters; there are a couple of splendid comic lairds of the best sort; Scott guides us though the complicated legal and religious problems that drive the plot with unobtrusive expert knowledge.
Reflecting on the book with hindsight, the really clever thing Scott has done is to tell the story mostly from Jeanie's point of view, sidelining Effie and her lover, who might have been the obvious central characters in a romantic adventure story. They have a passionate love affair, rob, murder, make thrilling clandestine journeys, disguise their identities, etc. - and it all happens offstage. We see their whole romantic career though the eyes of the people who have to clear up the mess. When Jeanie embarks on her epic journey to London, Scott makes us see that what is remarkable about her is the absolute conviction that she is doing the right thing and will succeed. We may think her naive; another writer might have treated the whole affair with a bit more irony and thrown more obstacles in her way; but Scott accomplishes the difficult task of making a wholly virtuous character three dimensional and interesting enough to carry a whole book without becoming either nauseating or tedious. Not a lot of people can do that.
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LibraryThing member antiquary
The ending seems to me to set up a tidy hap[py ending and then deliberately ruin it, possible for a moral lesson. Aside from that, it is well done. The picture of Scottish church politics and laws regarding pregnancy is interesting.
LibraryThing member antiquary
I liked much of this, particular when the heroine appeals to George II's mistress for a pardon for her sister, accused of infanticide under a law that if a woman known to be pregnant could not show the baby, she was presumed to have killed it. However, I felt the ending set up the possibility of a
perfect happy ending and then deliberately spoiled because Scott felt some of his characters did not deserve happiness.
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neatlyperfect happy ending and then deliberately spoiled because Scott felt some of his characters did not deserve happiness.
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LibraryThing member losloper
This novel, which has always been regarded as one of Scott's finest, opens with the Edinburgh riots of 1736. The people of the city have been infuriated by the actions of John Porteous, Captain of the Guard, and when they hear that his death has been reprieved by the distant monarch they ignore the
Show More
Queen and resolve to take their own revenge. At the cente of the story is Edinburgh's forbidding Tolbooth prison, known by all as the Heart of Midlothian. Show Less
LibraryThing member mbmackay
The seventh of Walter Scott's historical novels, and one that he was especially proud of - not an opinion that I share.
The book is uneven. The first half seems to lack narrative progress, and the history, such a good backdrop to his earlier novels, seems here to be too prominent and dry.
The plot is based on actual events - a woman accused of child murder, and the actions of her sister. Scott adds some familiar features - a strong, slightly crazy woman, and a lost heir, giving the book a formulaic feel.
Worth reading, but not my favourite.
The book is uneven. The first half seems to lack narrative progress, and the history, such a good backdrop to his earlier novels, seems here to be too prominent and dry.
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Fortunately, the second half picks up the pace and is more in line with Scott at his best. The plot is based on actual events - a woman accused of child murder, and the actions of her sister. Scott adds some familiar features - a strong, slightly crazy woman, and a lost heir, giving the book a formulaic feel.
Worth reading, but not my favourite.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
A simple Scots lass journeys to London hoping to obtain a pardon for her sister, who has been falsely accused of infanticide. the novel has a large cast of conflicted characters revealing the complicated state of scot's law and society in 1736. It is sentimental but contrasts several differing
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attitudes according to the social status of the characters. the book was originally publish in 1818. Show Less
LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick
Definitely above average for Scott. A gripping tale of crime, miscarriage of justice, heroism, madness, and memorable characters, all with a satisfying conclusion. Could perhaps have cut a hundred pages or so without losing its effect however.
LibraryThing member charlie68
Not an easy read, a lot of dialect makes for going over sentences for meaning. But an engrossing tale of the time period.
LibraryThing member john257hopper
This is one of Scott's most famous novels, named after the Tolbooth prison in the heart of Edinburgh. The basic plotline concerns Effie Deans, who gives birth to a child who disappears and who as a consequence is arrested and tried for its murder on the basis of a harsh Scots law in force at the
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time which gives a presumption of guilt to a mother in these circumstances. Her sister Jean makes a solo trip to London to beg mercy from the King and Queen. This plot is well and dramatically told, as are the rebellious events around the death of Captain Porteous, but much of the story's effect was marred for me by the heavy use of Scots vernacular for the speech of many of the characters, and the doings of rigid and unbending members of the Scottish kirk. I know it is not the point for the style of novels written two centuries ago, but this could have been a better read if around 30% shorter. That said, this is a good novel and rightly regarded as one of Scott's best novels. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1818
Physical description
376 p.; 20 inches
ISBN
0460011340 / 9780460011341
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